50. The fifth rule Tichonius lays
down is one he designates of times,—a rule by which we can
frequently discover or conjecture quantities of time which are not
expressly mentioned in Scripture. And he says that this rule
applies in two ways: either to the figure of speech called
synecdoche, or to legitimate numbers. The figure synecdoche
either puts the part for the whole, or the whole for the part.
As, for example, in reference to the time when, in the presence of
only three of His disciples, our Lord was transfigured on the
mount, so that His face shone as the sun, and His raiment was white
as snow, one evangelist says that this event occurred “after
eight days,”19181918Luke ix. 28. while
another says that it occurred “after six days.”19191919Matt. xvii. 1; Mark ix.
2. Now both
of these statements about the number of days cannot be true, unless
we suppose that the writer who says “after eight days,” counted
the latter part of the day on which Christ uttered the prediction
and the first part of the day on which he showed its fulfillment as
two whole days; while the writer who says “after six days,”
counted only the whole unbroken days between these two. This
figure of speech, which puts the part for the whole, explains also
the great question about the resurrection of Christ. For unless
to the latter part of the day on which He suffered we join the
previous night, and count it as a whole day, and to the latter part
of the night in which He arose we join the Lord’s day which was
just dawning, and count it also a whole day, we cannot make out the
three days and three nights during which He foretold that He would
be in the heart of the earth.19201920Matt. xii. 40.

51. In the next place, our author
calls those numbers legitimate which Holy Scripture more
highly favors such as seven, or ten, or twelve, or any of the other
numbers which the diligent reader of Scripture soon comes to
know. Now numbers of this sort are often put for time universal;
as for example, “Seven times in the day do I praise Thee,”
means just the same as “His praise shall continually be in my
mouth.”19211921 Comp.
Ps. cxix. 164 with xxxiv. 2. And
their force is exactly the same, either when multiplied by ten, as
seventy and seven hundred (whence the seventy years mentioned in
Jeremiah may be taken in a spiritual sense for the whole time
during which the Church is a sojourner among aliens);19221922Jer. xxv. 11. or when
multiplied into themselves, as ten into ten gives one hundred, and
twelve into twelve gives one hundred and forty-four, which last
number is
572
used in the Apocalypse to signify the whole body of the
saints.19231923Rev. vii. 4. Hence it
appears that it is not merely questions about times that are to be
settled by these numbers, but that their significance is of much
wider application, and extends to many subjects. That number in
the Apocalypse, for example, mentioned above, has not reference to
times, but to men.